Avenging Angels
by Mediocre Storyteller
Summary: Set in an AU where they operate a hospital, (see what I did there?), the Avengers do typical hospital things in a typical medical drama. Not that the Avengers are typical, of course. Based off of Avengers Hospital by M-U-N-C-H-Y on DeviantArt. Most of the Avengers are here, as well as Fury and some agents as well.
1. Interlude

The sleepy town of Lochester wasn't known for much. Not too many knew that it was home to a hospital chock-full of high-tech gadgets and staff members who were among the best in their field. Those who did know about it would tell you that the hospital also had a peculiar guard and an resident smartass (both kinds of resident.)

The said peculiar guard had just nailed the said resident smartass right on the back of his head with a small pebble. (There were a lot of pebbles near the entrance to Avengers Medical.) The doctor's cry of pain was enough to plaster a self-satisfied smirk on the his face.

"Barton! That's the third pebble today! Just wait till Dr. Romanoff hears about this. She's going to get you."

Dr. Romanoff! Ha! That little bastard thought Romanoff would do something about the pebbles. Hell, she was so heartless, it seemed to get colder whenever she walked into a room.

"You sure about that, Stark? The last thing Nat needs is a resident at a top-notch hospital whining about some stupid rock!"

"What's going on here, boys? Care to explain?"

Yikes. Just what they needed, Maria Hill. The receptionist's demeanor rivaled that of Romanoff's in terms of coldness.

"Officer Barton threw another pebble at me, Ms. Hill. He just won't stop!" Tony wailed like a five-year-old. No, that would be an understatement. That guy was more immature than a little kid.

Hill seemed unfazed. "Oh, is that so? Well, I bet you could ask Barton to apologize for being naughty, right? Then you two can get along and be friends." Maria said the last sentence in an eerily sing-songy voice and walked away.

After she disappeared through a door, Tony muttered, "She scares me sometimes."

"Well that makes two of us." Clint threw another pebble at Tony. Not that she would be able to change his mind about throwing rocks.

Just then, Clint noticed several figures approaching the building. Very dirty, very bloody figures. Too bloody for his own liking, anyway. _What can I say? It's part of my job._ Clint thought to himself as he touched his finger to his ear comm.

 **Officer Barton reporting. We've got a couple people coming our way. They look pretty beat.**

 **Dr. Fury's voice replied. How many?**

 **Looks like, uh, three. Yup, three, no wait, four bloody patient-to-be's, coming right up.**

 **Barton! This is a serious matter. Listen, I've got Rogers and Banner going over to join the welcoming committee. Got it?**

 **I thought we weren't supposed to make jokes.** Clint let out a sigh. **Roger that.**

"Really, Officer Barton? That was some pathetic joke." Clint turned around to face the two men who had been sent to him. "Try better next time. And without my name, please."

"Roger that. Now, let's go save some lives!" Clint overenthusiastically chirped and began running to the injured people.

"Officer Barton!"


	2. Shootout

The first thing Steve noticed when he looked closer at the group was that they were wearing everyday clothing. _Civilians. That's not a good sign. That's never a good sign._ Steve wondered what could possibly have gone awry in a town like Lochester.

"Sir, are you alright?" Steve couldn't think of anything else to say, even after working at Avengers Medical for several years.

"What does it look like, son? I'm not alright! All of us aren't right!" The man closest to him snapped at him, then winced in pain. He clearly wasn't in a good enough condition to talk.

"Sorry sir. Here, let's get you to the building. We can talk later." The man opened his mouth to speak but yelped instead as Steve quickly (but gently) scooped him up and put him on a stretcher the trio had brought along. Barton and Banner took the stretcher and began walking to the hospital entrance, where several more doctors were waiting.

Dr. Romanoff gave them orders once all patients were inside. "Alright, boys. Go and wash up. After that, Rogers and Banner will come with me. Barton, you'll go back to your post."

Officer Barton drawled, "Yes, ma'am," and saluted Dr. Romanoff as he went to the restroom. He and Bruce quickly followed.

As they were walking, Steve decided to ask the question that had been bugging him for the last ten minutes or so.

"What do you think happened to the civilians?"

He thought for a moment, then replied, "Don't know. Could be anything, really. An explosion, a car accident, or-"

"A shootout?"

Bruce had a bemused look on his face as he turned to Steve. "A shootout? What is there to shoot in Lochester?"

"I don't know."

 ** _Ten-ish minutes later_**

"What do we have, ma'am?" Steve asked Dr. Romanoff as the patients were assigned beds.

"Bumps and bruises and whatever you'd expect an injured man to have, Capsicle."

"Please don't call me that, Dr. Stark. I wasn't even asking you. What do we actually have, Dr. Romanoff?" Steve muttered something under his breath as he gave a death glare to Tony. He was too busy checking up a patient to notice. Dr. Stark definitely needed to learn to be more mature.

"Well. Pretty much what Tony here, said. Plus some bullet wounds. None of them are too serious."

"Bullet wounds?"

"You heard the gal right. There we were, goin' about our day, when suddenly BANG!" The man under Tony's care suddenly spoke. "A gunshot. The woman walkin' in from of me doubles over. BANG! BANG! BANG! Some more gunshots. We barely made it here."

"Do you know who had the gun, sir?"

"Nuh-uh. None of us do. We're all suspecting terrorists, but what is there to terrorize in Lochester?" This time a young woman who couldn't be older than 21 piped up.

"I wish I knew."


	3. JARVIS

After the injuries had been treated, the Avengers- they were called this as a whole- had some time to rest. Two minutes, to be exact, because just when they had finished cleaning up, a man and a heavily pregnant woman rushed through the hospital doors. Dr. Romanoff was assigned the couple, and the three went to the maternity ward.

Some more people came in, but were only there for checkups and minor things. This gave Tony at least an hour until the end of his shift. As usual, he gravitated towards a small room next to his office that he had cleared up for himself.

The room could've been described as a workshop, but there was something more than that. Maybe it was the white hospital scheme. Maybe it was the surreal cleanliness a normal workshop wouldn't have. Maybe it was the mysterious and calming atmosphere of the room. Maybe it was the black letter that was sitting on the worktable.

Wait, that couldn't be right. Tony checked again. Yup. The black letter was there, alright. _Well, at least I'm_ _not hallucinating._ Tony tried to stay optimistic as he opened the letter.

Tony expected to see a suspicious code or an even more suspicious white powder. What he hadn't expected to see was a neatly written letter. _Sky-high suspiciousness._

 _We're coming to get it. You know what we're talking about. You don't hand it over tomorrow, bad things are going to happen. I wouldn't want to see an innocent person dying 'cause of your stubbornness. Or worse, maybe your friend will be caught in the crossfire. Just remember, it's your choice._

 _Give it up? Or have it taken by force?_

There was no signature, but Tony knew who had sent it. He burnt the letter and began fiddling with spare parts in a failed attempt to calm his nerves. _They can't take it by force. They can't take it by force._

"What is the object the enemy can not take by the force?" A booming voice startled Tony. He turned around to face Dr. Thor Odinson and he swore under his breath never to say his thoughts out loud again.

"N-n-nothing." Tony managed to stammer. "I, uh-"

"Oh. My apologies for trying to help you on your solo quest. This quest was meant for one person only, am I right?"

As puzzled as Tony was, he was relieved that he didn't have to talk about 'it' to Thor. "Huh? Oh, yes. This is a quest I must accomplish on my own. You know, honor stuff." Tony hoped that this was enough to get the man off his tail.

"I see. If you need help, just come to me for advice." As if. "But for now, I request your help with a patient. Perhaps it may help with your honor."

"Sure, big guy. Whatever you need."

It wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Thor just needed another pair of hands for a stretcher. When Tony asked why the nurses couldn't help, he told him that they were all "off on their own journeys." Tony decided that helping out around the hospital would keep his mind off the letter, so he followed Thor around until his shift was over.

While Tony was driving home, he couldn't help but say one last thought out loud.

"Sorry guys. I can't give up JARVIS." Who knows what could happen if it was in the wrong hands?


	4. Nice Days

Natasha couldn't help but notice that Tony was more jittery than usual. She was just good at reading body language. She considered asking him if anything was wrong, but she knew that he would keep his mouth shut.

 _It is Day Four. Tony is still jumpy. No emergencies in the past several days. Nat, stop making this sound like a documentary!_ She scolded herself as she filled out some paperwork. Her next appointment wasn't until 8:00. _That gives me an hour and a half._

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Nat looked up and saw her assistant, Nurse Bruce. "Hi Bruce. Need something?"

"Actually, no. I came in because I don't have anything to do. Mind if I take some papers?"

Nat gave him a rare smile. "You know what they say, many hands make light work."

Bruce took some papers and lay on the floor, stomach-side down.

The two didn't talk for a while, and the next time Nat looked at her clock, it was already 7:12. She checked the time again when her phone buzzed. She answered a text from Dr. Fury at 7:18.

 **Have you seen Clint? He's late.**

 **Nope. I've been in my office since 6:20.**

 **OK. Got that.**

She turned off her phone at 7:19 and looked out the window. She noticed that the weather was nice.

 **Officer Clint Barton- 7:19**

Clint noticed that the weather was nice. Not that his day had begun nice. Today was the day the engine on his motorcycle had gone wonky. Today was also the day he dropped his bus money down a drain. He hated street drains.

So here he was, enjoying a walk to the hospital, lunchbox in hand. _Fury's going to kill me if I'm late. At least I can have fun in the sun until then._ It was pretty sunny for the morning, and there was a light breeze. "Nice," he said to no one in particular.

Clint checked the time on his phone. 7:20. "Aww, time. He was getting killed after all.

Not that he meant it literally.

The things that happened afterward were a blur. Clint remembered a loud explosion, and he was swept off of his feet. He remembered sailing into a conveniently nearby dumpster. He also remembered waking up to utter chaos.

Paramedics were dashing to and fro, looking for survivors and treating the injured. Sirens were flashing as more help arrived. A block or two was covered with rubble, and there was a little more damage beyond that.

After climbing out of the dumpster, Clint checked up his body. Thanks to the convenient dumpster, he only had a couple bruises, cuts, and a laceration on his arm. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. It wasn't until after he finished that he noticed the ringing in his ears.

The loud "eeeeeeeee" faded after a couple of minutes but was replaced by silence.

 _Utter silence._ Clint could see people moving their mouths and rubble being tossed out of the way, but he heard none of it. No. Nonononononono. Clint touched his ears and realized that they were bleeding. _This can't be happening. No no no._ "NO!" Clint shouted the last one (well, thought he shouted) and was even more outraged at the fact that he couldn't hear himself speak. He sank to the floor and began sobbing.

So much for a nice day.


	5. Pop Tarts

Thor searched through the rubble, his hands flinging away dirt and rock. A little while after he was told to _gently_ fling rocks he found a survivor.

He scooped up the little boy and took him to one of the many medical stations. As soon as the child was with the paramedics, Thor went back to search for more people. He knew that he could've been on one of the teams, but his strength was more needed in the search-and-rescue squad.

He was about to begin flinging more rocks when he heard a loud "NO!" coming from behind him. Thor turned around to see Officer Barton sinking to the floor.

"Barton! He needs my assistance!" Thor rushed over and picked him up, taking him quickly to a medical station. He was too hurried to notice Clint's murmurs.

"It's OK, big guy. I don't need help."

"Uhh, Thor?"

"THOR!"

It wasn't until the last 'Thor' that he noticed Clint speaking. Thor was a little startled and bellowed "WHAT!?" right in Clint's face. He was also too startled to notice that Clint barely flinched at the noise he made.

"Hey, Thor."

"Hello, Officer. I apologize for the noise I made."

"No, no. It's alright. In fact _I'm_ alright. I don't need medical assistance, Thor. I can handle it myself. Why don't you go and help someone else?"

It was at this moment Thor realized that there were "more people in need of his help." He gracefully dropped Clint and dashed off, oblivious to Clint's ungraceful "Oww!"

 **Time Skip**

Thor was finally allowed a break after several hours of treating injuries. The bomb had been a fairly large one and demolished at least a block or two. Several of their patients had died under their care, and there were still more survivors back at the site. Thor decided to leave the two search-and-rescue teams behind and went to the hospital with everyone else.

Thor opened a Pop Tart and began eating. He noticed that things had finally gone under control and the noise level was going down.

A stretcher came in with a bloody body. Thor had to look twice before realizing who it was.

"Son of Coul!"

"Not now, Thor!" The "Iron Man" as Thor liked to call him, was rushing the body to the operating room. He looked more anxious than usual. "We'll talk about it later!" Thor looked on as the doors slammed shut and went back to eating his Pop Tart.

A couple moments later he saw Clint and Natasha going into an empty room. _Strange mortals. Always going on their little quests._ Thor wondered what they were up to.

"Alright, Point Break! Break time's over! Get in here, chop chop!" The intern's head poked out of the operating room. "We've got work to do!"


	6. HYDRA

"OK. So, uhh, well, you see, I-"

"Just get on with it, Clint. What's wrong?" Natasha rushed him. The bumbling idiot never knew what to say in this kind of situation. Besides, she had patients to treat.

Apparently Clint didn't hear her because he kept on mumbling. She quickly slapped him without thinking and received a very strange look.

"Oww! Sorry, were you talking?"

"Of course I was, you idiot. What, you can't hear me or something?"

The look on Clint's face was all it took for her to put two and two together. She put her face in her hands and mumbled.

"Clint, you idiot."

"So, what are we going to do about it?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Natasha kept gesturing with her hands and talking slowly. "We have to tell the others."

"I know, but it's weird. Do I just go up to them and say 'Hey guys, guess what? The bomb deafened me!'"

"Yes!"

"Oh. But that sounds weird!"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"Well..."

 **Dr. Tony Stark: Half an hour-ish later**

The Avengers were all in the break room. It was pretty quiet except for what looked like Natasha and Clint playing a game of Heads Up in the corner. Tony drank his third cup of coffee in fifteen minutes. He just couldn't get over the fact that Coulson had been sent to the urgent care ward.

 _caught in the crossfire. caught in the crossfire. caught in the cross-_

"Avengers." Everyone turned to see Nick Fury at the door. "Emergency meeting now. We're all here anyway."

The Avengers moved to the table in the middle of the room and sat down. Thor opened a Pop Tart and began eating. He always seemed to have one. Fury walked over and began pacing around the table.

"Based off of the bomb today and the shootout several days ago, the police has confirmed that Lochester is being attacked by a group called HYDRA." The team shuddered. "No one knows why they're here, but the police station received a letter today. Apperently someone here has something they want. And until that person gives it up, their going to keep attacking."

"So what does that have to do with us?"

"We need to be on the lookout for anyone who looks suspicious. And be sure to expect many more cases in the next couple of weeks. We'll also be sending a couple workers to guard the cops who search suspects. Any questions?" The team was silent. "Good. Barton and Romanoff will guard the first team. Go to the police station eight thirty sharp tomorrow. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright then. Ten more minutes of break."

After Fury left the room, everyone began asking everyone questions. The obviously unanswerable questions. Who is HYDRA? Who has what they want? Why do they want it? When will they give up? Will they give up?

Tony was in a conversation with Bruce when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He decided to let Natasha lead him outside into the hallway.

"OK. I'm going to get to the point. Clint was in the wrong place at the wrong time and now he's deaf. Make him hearing aids." Natasha then walked back inside, leaving a speechless Tony.

"So much for tact." Tony let out an awkward laugh and tried to calm down his thoughts.

Not another one.

 _caught in the crossfire. caught in the crossfire. caught in the crossfire._

 **So in this story I guess HYDRA isn't a large group. I probably made Nat to cold for her own good. Sorry about that. I'll try to post as often as I can but SCHOOL!**


End file.
